To a choke coil and a transformer used in, for example, a switching power supply or the like, an AC current is usually applied thereto together with a DC current superposed thereto. Therefore, a core used in those choke coil and transformer is required to have a magnetic characteristic of a good magnetic permeability so that the core is not magnetically saturated by the superposition of the DC current (the characteristic will be referred to as “DC superposition characteristic” or simply as “superposition characteristic”).
As magnetic cores in application fields within high frequency bands, there have been used a ferrite core and a dust core which have individual features due to physical properties of their materials, the ferrite core has a high intrinsic magnetic permeability and a low saturated magnetic flux density while the dust core has a low intrinsic magnetic permeability and a high saturated magnetic flux density. Accordingly, the dust core is often used as one having a toroidal shape. On the other hand, the ferrite magnetic core has an E-shape core part having a central leg formed with a magnetic gap so as to prevent magnetic saturation from being caused by the superposition of DC current.
Recently, since electronic parts are required to be small-sized as electronic devices are more compact-sized, the magnetic core with the magnetic gap is small-sized too. So, there is a strong demand for magnetic cores having an increased magnetic permeability against superposition of DC current.
Generally, it is necessary for the demand to select a magnetic core having a high saturation magnetization, that is, to select a magnetic core that is not magnetically saturated by a high magnetic field applied. The saturation magnetization is inevitably determined by materials and cannot be made as high as desired.
As a solution, it has been conventionally proposed to dispose a permanent magnet in a magnetic gap formed in a magnetic path of a magnetic core, that is, to magnetically bias the magnetic core, to thereby cancel a DC magnetic flux caused by the superposition of DC current.
The magnetic bias by use of the permanent magnet is a good solution to improve the DC superposition characteristic, but it have hardly been brought into a practical use because use of a sintered metallic magnet resulted in considerable increase of a core loss of the magnetic core, while use of a ferrite magnet led in unstable superposition characteristic.
In order to resolve the problems, for example, JP-A 50-133453 discloses to use, as a magnetically biasing magnet, a bond magnet comprising rare-earth magnetic powder with a high magnetic coercive force and binder which are mixed together with each other and compacted into a shape, thereby the DC superposition characteristic and temperature elevation of the core being improved.
Recently, a power supply has been more and more strongly required to improve its power transformation efficiency to such a high level that it is difficult to determine good and bad of magnetic cores for choke coils and transformers by core temperatures measured. Therefore, it is inevitable to determine it from core loss data measured by use of a core-loss measuring device. According to the study by the present inventors, it was confirmed that the core loss has a degraded value in cores having the resistance value disclosed in JP-A 50-133453.
As electronic devices have recently been small-sized, inductance parts are required smaller and smaller. Accordingly, magnetically biasing magnets are demand smaller and smaller in thickness.
Further, there have recently been demands for coil parts of a surface-mount type. Those coil parts are subjected to reflow soldering process so as to be surface-mounted on a circuit board. It is desired that a magnetic core of the coil part be not degraded in its magnetic properties under conditions of the reflow soldering process. Further, the magnet is desired to have oxidation resistance.
It is a theme of this invention to provide a magnet suitable to a magnetically biasing magnet which is disposed in the vicinity of at least one magnetic gap formed in a magnetic path of a magnetic core in a small-sized inductance part for magnetically bias the core through opposite ends of the magnetic gap.
It is an object of this invention to provide a permanent magnet that can provide an excellent DC superposition characteristics and an excellent core-loss characteristic to an inductance part in use as a magnetically biasing magnet for a magnetic core of the part.
It is another object of this invention to provide a permanent magnet for magnetically biasing magnet that is not degraded in its magnetic properties even if it is subjected to a temperature in the reflow soldering process.
It is yet another object to provide a magnetic core that is excellent in the magnetic properties and core-loss characteristic.
It is another object of this invention to provide an inductance part having a magnetic core having excellent DC superposition characteristics and core-loss characteristics.